STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1380

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.R. No. 44

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.R. No. 44 entitled:

 

"SENATE RESOLUTION URGING CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO SUPPORT THE PASSAGE OF LEGISLATION TO EXPEDITE FAMILY REUNIFICATION FOR CERTAIN FILIPINO VETERANS OF WORLD WAR II,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to urge the President of the United States and United States Congress to support legislation to expedite family reunification for certain Filipino veterans of World War II.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Office of Veterans Services; Hawaii Civil Rights Commission; Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Hawaii; and two individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that during World War II, nearly one hundred thousand soldiers of the Philippine Commonwealth Army fought alongside United States and Allied forces for four long years to defend and reclaim the Philippine Islands from Japanese aggression.  In 1990, the United States Congress enacted legislation that provided Filipino veterans with a waiver from certain immigration and naturalization requirements in recognition of the courage and loyalty of the Filipino veterans who fought alongside United States Armed Forces in the Pacific during World War II.  However, the 1990 legislation did not go far enough in extending immigration and naturalization benefits to the children of Filipino veterans, resulting in years of long separation between the veterans and their children remaining in the Philippines awaiting the issuance of immigrant visas.  Legislation advancing family reunification for certain Filipino veterans of World War II will honor the veterans' courage, sacrifice, and loyalty.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 44, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 44, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

 

 

 

________________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair